Apocalyptica Announce 2015 Headlining North American Trek With Art of Dying

Apocalyptica will be supporting their new Shadowmaker album by opening up for Sixx: A.M. on tour this spring, but it won't be long until the cello-wielding rockers will be taking their turn as headliners. In fact, that time starts on May 17.

The group has just announced a headlining tour that will kick off May 17 in Norfolk, Va., and will continue until mid-June with a finale in Montreal. These dates will feature the band's new singer Franky Perez handling vocals. The band started off as an instrumental outfit, occasionally employing guest vocalists over the years, but the Shadowmaker effort marks their first time utilizing a singer for a full album.

The band recently premiered the song "Cold Blood" as their lead single. The track is starting to take hold at rock radio and the video can be seen here.

Joining Apocalyptica on the run will be Art of Dying. The band recently found a new recording home at Better Noise Records, which now backs Apocalyptica, as well, and the group is expecting to release the album Rise Up this summer. Look for the title track and corresponding video to drop on March 6.

"It's really exciting for us to return to the U.S. and Canada for our headline tour and we can't wait to present a lot of new material from our upcoming album Shadowmaker," state Apocalyptica. "Our new singer Franky Perez, who is a real entertainer, will definitely bring an interesting new edge to our show and we are looking forward to seeing old friends and making new ones."

Art of Dying added, "We are ecstatic to be hitting the road for the first time in three years and performing our new music with Apocalyptica! The cities and venues on this tour are some of our favorites in North America, including a hometown stop in Vancouver …. We're going to bring it hard!"

Be sure to pick up Apocalyptica's Shadowmaker on April 21. It's available for pre-order via Amazon.